Automatic railway-gate.



H. MONROE. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 30, I914.

Patented July 25; 1916.

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HENRY MONROE, OF SABETHA, KANSAS.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-GATE.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25,1916.

Application filed October 30, 1914. I Serial No. 869,425.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Mormon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sabetha, in the county of Nemaha and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway-Gates; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apper-.

tains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in railway gates of the automatic'type which consist of train actuated apparatus for controlling the swinging gates or bars ata railway crossing, to close said gates before the train reaches the crossing and to open the gates after the train has passed the crossing.

The primary object of my invention is to provide novel means for supporting and securing the gate members at the crossing that is attached to the rails and serves to support the gate members in a reliable manner so as to insure their proper operation.

I. Another object of importance is to' provide novel means to be engaged .by trains to operate the closed and 0 en position.

Another 0 ject is to generally improve and simplifyrailway' gates so as to render them more practical, reliable and eflicient in operation and inexpensive to install and maintain in operation.

The above and additional objects'are accomplishedby such means as are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, described in the following specification and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

With reference to the drawings, wherein I have illustrated the preferred embodiment of my invention as it is reduced to practice, and throughout the several views of which similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts, Figure 1 is a top plan view of arailroad crossing showing my improved gate attached thereto, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional viewshowing one of the gate members in side elevation, alsothe operating mechanism therefor. Fig. 3 is a trans-' verse sectlonal View showing one of the supporting membersfor thegate operatively associated with one of the rails of the track, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view in detail ofa part of the supporting mechanism for the gate, and operating mechanifim therefor.

gates so as to move them into 1 Referring to the drawings, by characters of reference designates as an entirety a railway cross1ng, B the rails, C the ties, and D and E'balanced gate bars. The gate bars D and E arepivoted as at 1 upon the upper ends of vertical standard 2 and 'eachh'ave secured upon one end a weight member 3 which serves to balance the gate members. An upstanding standard 2 is provided for each of the gate members, said standard and cooperating parts being identical as to construction. An offset apertured boss 4 is formed on one face of each of the standards at the upper end thereof. Pivot bolts or p1ns 5 are inserted through the gate bars D and E and apertures in the upper end of each of the standards 2 and the apertured' bosses 4. Nuts 6 are turned on the threaded ends of said bolts 5, and engage washers 7 interposed between the nuts and outer faces of the bosses 4. As a means for limiting.

the standards 2 and limits the movement of the gate member on each standard when said members move into closed position as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Y

The standards 2 are formed integral with I flat elongated metallic base plates 9 at points plates 9 are mounted upon a suitable" supintermediate and approximately central of s the ends .of said base plates. The base pgorting surfaceupon the outside of the-rails:

and extend at right angles to said rails, the inner ends of thebase plates 9Jare up .Wardly offset asat 10 so as to engage upon the bases of the rails and. formed integral with theofiset portions 10 are upstanding flanges 11 which engage the webs of. the.

rails'and the ball thereof. Bolts 12 are in-' serted through the flanges 11 and webs of the rails and have nuts 13 turned on :their threaded terminals to secure the bolts in po-. sition. a

In connection with. each standardv I provide an upwardly and inwardly-inends, said feet being aperturedu Thetr fee 15' and 16 engage respectively theouteriend-ie portions of. the plates 9 and intermediate portions of the verticalstandards 2.. Suitable fastening elements 17 serve to secure the I 39$ 15 to the'outer end of each of the plates 9. Fastening elements 18 secure the feet 16 to the standard 2.

With reference to the foregoin description it will be observed that I have provided a simple and extremely effective and reliable support for the gate members of a railway gate that will not only act to support the gate members but brace the rails.

An elongated pulley supporting plate 19 provided with a central inverted U-shaped portion 20 is mounted transversely of each of the base plates 9 and receives the base plate in the inverted U-shaped portion 20 thereon. A pair of pulleys 21 is mounted upon each of the plates 19, a pulley being disposed adjacent to each end of said Plate, upon the upper face thereof. The plate 19 disposes the pulleys at points on opposite sides of the pivot 1 for the gate members D and E at a point underneath said pivot points.

As a means for automatically operating the gate members D and E, I provide two pairs of pivoted train engaging members or shoes 22 and 23. These pairs of members are arranged upon opposite sides of the crossing A a sufficient distance to permit the gate to close before a train reaches the crossing. Each of the members of the pair 22 consists of a bell crank 24 that is pivoted intermediate its ends as at 25 to a suitable support inside of the track or to one of the rails B and has one arm portion disposed above the level of the rails to be engaged by a train while the other arm portion is disposed below the rail and operatively eonneeted with a pull lever 26 by means of a rod 27 which is pivoted or loosely secured at one end to the lower end of the bell crank 24 and at its other end loosely secured as at 28 to the intermediate portion of the lever 26. Secured to the free end of the lever 26 as at 29 is a cable or some suitable flexible element 30 that is disposed upon the inside of each of the rails and below the upper surface thereof. Each of the' members 30 is passed about a pulley 31 arranged at a point nearly opposite to one of the pulleys 21 and then passed through a suitable aperture in each of the rails and directed at right angles to the rails underneath the pulley. The flexible elements 30 after bemg passed under the pulleys 21 are directed upwardly on opposite sides of the rail 2 and secured as at 32 to the gate bars D and E. An expansion spring 33 is mounted upon one of the adjacent ties C in connection with each of the bell cranks 24 of the pair 22 and is interposed between the train engaging portion of the bell crank 24 and tie adjacent thereto. These springs 33 normally hold the parts of each of the bell cranks 24 in position to be engaged by a train. Each of the members 23 consists of a bell crank lever, one arm of which is disposed below the rails and has its lower end connected by means of a rod 27, to the lower end of a vertically disposed pull lever 28, which is pivotally connected intermediate its ends to the free end of a horizontally disposed bracket 29, which is disposed below the top of the rails. Flexible elements 34 are connected to the upper end of the pull levers 28 and pass over pulleys similar to the ones 31, then the pulleys 21 and to the bars D and E as at 35.

In operation, when a train approaches the members 22, and engages them, they are forced-downwardly and a pull communicated to the lever 26 through the rod or connection 27. Assuming that the bars D and E are in up position, as shown in Fig. 2, when. a pull is communicated thereto through the flexible elements 30, they will be overbalanced and fall into horizontal and closed position. When the bars D and E descend, the pull on the flexible element 34, located in the rear of the bars D and E, will rock the upper ends of the pull levers 28* downwardly, causing the lower arms of the bell crank levers 23 to be rocked upwardly, resulting in the upper arms of the bell crank lever 23 being moved above the rails of the track. The spring clips 8 limit the downward movement of the gate bars D and E after the train has passed the crossing A and upon engagement thereof with the members 23, the flexible elements 34 will have a pull communicated thereto and serve to pull the members D and E in up he gate bars 1) and E are of the counterbalanced type, so that when in either raised or lowered position, remain in position until operated.

In practice, I have found that the form of my invention, illustrated in the drawings and referred to in the above description, as the preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent with the adoption of my device will necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize the fact that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion'and arrangement of parts may be resorted to when required, without sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention, as set forth.

What is claimed is 1. A railway gate consisting of a pair of gate bars, upstanding standards, said gate bars being pivoted to the standards intermediate t eir ends and being balanced relative to said standards, integral base plates carried by the lower ends of the standards and having their inner ends shaped to conform to and arranged to engage the outer faces of the rail at a railway crossing, a transverse pulley supportin bar carried by each of said base plates, p eys carried on 100 osition, as shown in Fig. 2 in the drawings.

- faces of the rail at a railway crossing, a

the ends of said bars and disposed on o posite sides of pivot 'point of the gate ars, flexible elements secured at their ends on opposite sides of the pivot points of said bars, and directed downwardly'under said pulleys and on opposite sides of the gate bars and means to be arranged in advance of the railway crossing on either side thereof to be engaged b a train to communicate a pull tothe flexib e elements.

2. A railway gate consisting of a pair of gate bars, upstanding standards, said gate bars being pivoted to the standards intermediate their ends and being balanced relative to said standards, integral base plates carried bythe lower ends of the' standards and havingtheir inner ends shaped to conform to and arranged to engage the outer transverse pulley su porting bar carried by each of said base p ates, pu leys carried on the ends of said bars and disposed on opposite sides of pivot, point of the gate bars,

flexible elements secured at their ends on opposite sides of the pivot points of said bars, and directed downwardlyunder said pulleys and on opposite sides of the gate bars and means to be arranged in advance of the railway crossing on either side thereof to be engaged by a train to communicate a pull to the flexible elements, said means serving to move the gate bars into and outof closed position, and means to limit the downward movement of the gate bars and support them in closed position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature inpresence of two Witnesses.

HENRY MONROE. 

